"funky"
The incredibly shape shifting "IKEA" by Japan's Helsinki Lambda Club has so many sonic flavors, textures, and rays of light that if you are not smiling 60 seconds in, you might be severely depressed (go get some help). Starting off with pretty jazzy horn sounds, the track falls straight into an old school funk groove and then surprisingly shifts into a breezy bit of pop indie that sounds curiously like commercial fodder for bubble gum or Mentos (or something like that). I don't mean "commercial fodder" derisively it is very cool while feeling a bit askew. The song shifts again into a super sweet rap track with ridiculously cool guitar stabs and those horns again.
Then it feels almost like everything before has joined the party in a cacophony of sounds with heavy psyche and proggy rock elements joining the fray. Then a parting of the amalgamous sea as things mellow out. The result is such a divergent mix of sounds, unique in it's journey and you get pulled along easily like a happy dog on a leash.
Helsinki Lambda Club (here) feels like a rainbow trip with no planned direction, like a sweet improvisation. I like the bright sense here and I like the R&B funk affections a lot. Place IKEA on any play list and ears will perk up, heads will turn. An album release entitled "Eleven plus two / Twelve plus one" is set for November 25th (2020).
-Robb Donker Curtius
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Founded in 2013 around the singer Hashimoto, Helsinki Lambda Club released their first single "Helsinki Lambda Club no otooshi" under the label UK.PROJECT in December 2014.
From 2014 to 2018, they released a series of first : first mini-album"olutta" (2015), first maxi-single "Tomodachi ni modorou" (June 2016), first full album "ME to ME" (Oct 2016), first split CD with the band teto (2017), first 7inch vinyl "Time,Time,Time" (Nov 2017), first digital single release "PIZZASHAKE" (June 2018).
In August 2018, they started the series of seconds : second digital single "Jokebox", and second mini-album "Tourist" in December.
They have performed in numerous festivals across Japan, and embarked on successful tours across Japan.
In March 2019, they had their eagerly awaited first performance abroad, in Taiwan, followed by a tour in Beijing and Shanghai in August, and a performance at the SHOUT OUT FEST ’19 in Taiwan in September.
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